Uncanny X-Men 181
"Tokyo Story" is the 181st issue of the first volume of ''Uncanny X-Men'' and the 40th issue of the series published under the "Uncanny" indicia. It was written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by John Romita, Jr., who also provided the cover art illustration. Dan Green composed the finished art and inks and the issue was colored by Glynis Wein with Tom Orzechowski on lettering. It was edited by Louise Jones with Ann Nocenti as assistant editor. This issue was released with a May, 1984 cover date and a cover price of 60 cents per copy (US). In this issue, the X-Men return from the Secret Wars, only to find themselves dropped in the middle of Tokyo, Japan. Moreover, the dragon they briefly encountered on the Beyonder's Battleworld has followed them as well and has now grown to fantastic size. Once again, the Japanese Civil Defense must now contend with a giant green monster in their midst. Synopsis The X-Men spontaneously appear in the skies over Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. They are accompanied by a large giant, green dragon. The dragon flies off and the X-Men meet a group of children that tells them where they are. The dragon flies to nearby Tokyo and begins wreaking havoc. The X-Men are surprised to see how large it had grown since last they had seen it on the Beyonder's Battleworld. The X-Men snap into action and begin rescuing people from falling debris left in the creature's wake. Japan's premiere superhero, Sunfire, arrives on the scene to lend a hand. Wolverine rescues a young Japanese girl name Amiko, whose mother dies in his arms as a result of injuries she sustained from a collapsing building. Wolverine promises to look after the orphaned Amiko as his own ward. In Tahiti, Scott Summers suddenly appears in bed next to his new bride, Madelyne. She is overjoyed to see that he has returned, but is having difficulty accepting the turmoil that comes with being married to a mutant. Back in Japan, the X-Men's pet mascot, Lockheed decides to take a stand. He rejects the advances of his larger would-be mate, who then ceases to cause any more damage and flies off. Wolverine points out that the dragon was shredding buildings for materials to use as a nest. In Washington, D.C., Senator Robert Kelly has a disagreement with a colleague regarding his proposed Federal bill, the Mutant Affairs Control Act. Appearances * X-Men :* Professor X, Charles Xavier :* Colossus, Peter Rasputin :* Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner :* Rogue :* Storm, Ororo Munroe :* Wolverine, James Howlett * Lockheed * Amiko Kobayashi * Madelyne Pryor * Mariko Yashida * Scott Summers * Sunfire, Shiro Yoshida * Green dragon * Robert Kelly * Akiro * Eiko * Jiro * Senator Phillip * Teruki * Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force * X-Men * Dragons * Humans * Mutants * Japan :* Tokyo :* Japanese National Command Center :* Kanagawa * Tahiti * Washington, D.C. :* White House * None * Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force tanks and jets * Flight * Pyrokinesis * Superhuman strength * Telepathy * Teleportation * Weather control * Winged flight Notes & Trivia * This issue was released as both a newsstand edition and a Canadian variant edition. * The story from this issue is reprinted in the 40 Years of X-Men DVD-ROM collection, ''Essential X-Men'', Volume 5 and ''X-Men Classic'' #85. * Wolverine answers readers’ questions and comments in the X-Mail letters column. * Ron Zalme provided the color lettering for this issue, but is uncredited. * The tagline for this issue is "Young Dragons in Love". The tagline has become popular enough that it is often referred to as the title for this issue in other sources. * The X-Men are featured dangling from the copy logo on the cover of this issue. * The events of this issue take place following the events of ''Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars'' #12. At the time of publication however, only issue #1 of Secret Wars had been released. The X-Men appears next as a group in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #183. Rogue appears next in a solo story in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #182. * The events of this issue take place on January 23rd, 1984. * This issue introduces the Mutant Affairs Control Act, which will affect mutant-kind for several years. * First appearance of Amiko Kobayashi. She will become the foster child of Mariko Yashida, and later, Yukio. She appears next in ''Kitty Pryde & Wolverine'' #5. * Final appearance of the green dragon. * Sunfire chronologically appeared last in ''Incredible Hulk'', Volume 2 #279. He appears next in ''Deathlok'' #4. * Mariko Yashida appeared last in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #176. She appears next in ''Kitty Pryde & Wolverine'' #5. * Senator Robert Kelly appeared last in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #158. He appears next in ''Defenders'', Volume 1 #142. * On the first two pages of this issue, the Japanese children collectively say, "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! it's a plane! It's -- a dragon!" This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the classic tagline attributed to the DC Comics character Superman. The phrase was first made famous in the ''Adventures of Superman'' radio series of the 1940s featuring the voice talents of Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander. * The children at the beginning of this issue make reference to several notable Japanese pop culture icons, including Godzilla, who is referred to as Gojira in this issue, who was also a canonical Marvel Universe character for a brief period while Marvel Comics still had the license to the character. They also refer to Red Ronin, which is a robot mecha, featured in issues of ''Godzilla'' as well as the ''Avengers''. They mention Space Cruiser Yamato, which is the English title for Space Battleship Yamato - a Japanese anime series developed by Akita Shoten. They mention Astro Boy, which is the original Japanese manga created by Osamu Tezuka in 1952. Finally, they offer up a reference to the Hulk, which is not part of Japanese culture, but is a notable character created by Marvel Comics. Recommended Reading See also External Links * Uncanny X-Men #181 at MDP * * * Uncanny X-Men #181 at Comicbookdb.com * Uncanny X-Men #181 at Uncanny X-Men.net ---- Category:Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 Category:1984/Comic issues Category:May, 1984/Comic issues Category:Comic issues with plot summaries